"I have been thinking it over, and have decided that we had better go down to Johannesburg. It is a large town, and people are sure to be there from all parts, and we shall be less noticed. What do you think, Hans?" "That is what I have been thinking too, Master Yorke." "Do you know how the road lies from here, Peter?" "Yes, baas; we sweep round the town three or four miles, then come on the road." "Do you think you could find your way all right?" "Quite sure to find it, baas; cloud clearing off, soon have stars come out." "Then we will start at once; we are not likely to meet anyone on the road. If we keep on we shall be half-way there by daylight, we can then decide what we shall do. Now, where are the things?" "In this bundle, baas. I have them ready, because if I had heard shots fired I should have run with the horse in that direction so as to meet you." Yorke did not wait to take off his uniform, but slipped the Boer clothes over it. "Now, where are the provisions?" he asked. "In the bag behind the saddle," the Kaffir said. "Four blankets tied in front, one for each of us and one for horse." "That is right. We had better lead the horse for the next half-mile, for on a still night like this they might hear the sound if we were to trot. I don't say that they would give the alarm, as they could not say who it was: but if they were to discover that we had gone they might remember that they heard a horse, and so guess the line we had taken." They went quietly along for a quarter of an hour, then Yorke said: "We are far enough off now. I will mount here. When you are tired, Hans, you can take my place and I will walk." But Hans laughed, "I can keep on any time," he said, "but I will let you know if I am tired." They proceeded slowly for the next half-hour, when, as the Kaffir had predicted, the clouds cleared off and the stars came out. "Now, we can go on fast, baas." "Then you had better get up behind me, Hans, the horse must have had little to do lately, and he can carry double very well; we shall thus gain a lot of time, and he will have another rest at Johannesburg." The Kaffir ran on lightly ahead, and at a trot the horse followed. In half an hour they came on the road south, and maintaining the pace, and breaking occasionally into a walk for a short distance, they kept on till morning broke. It was half-past twelve when they started, and by four they had done twenty-five miles and were within ten miles of Johannesburg. "I think we may as well push on to the town," Yorke said. "If we were to leave the road and take to the veldt, people might notice us from the farmhouses and wonder what we were doing there."